To: Anthony Marx (and others)

Hunger burns

my mountains top off.

Nightingales

throb at puzzles.

Every goodbye

blackbirds cry

and muzzle and guzzle

and make new trouble.

Lows go lower

wag the hog

nill for kills

and gnaw at paw.

Separate the dead

from the living —

breeds curiosity bees.

Bewildering splendors

suffer the drop

and lavish the link.

Stay by your wings

at hedge of death.

Lay by vigil

and dagger the cloak

and champ at rope

and make it swing.

Give every death

breadth

fly fluid flow

let the sting glow.

Break out the wick

and glaze a blue maze

at  fine particulate

trail of smoke.

Words are birds

with nose in rack.

Fall into sweep

inky and black.

Circulate the skin

fetch and skim.

Exercise freedom

of its phantom limb.